Our blogs explain health conditions and clinical research in a way that is easy to follow, so readers can feel more informed
Link Discovery Points to Potential New Alzheimer’s Treatment
Researchers have found that the proteins that control the progression of Alzheimer’s are linked in a pathway, and that drugs targeting this pathway may be a way of treating the disease, which affects 40 million people worldwide. The findings are published...
California Launches Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine
Gov. Jerry Brown is launching a statewide California healthcare initiative with the University of California, to advance the field of precision medicine. The effort will involve collaborating with other academic and industry partners and starting to build the infrastructure and assemble...
New Biomarkers to Spot Pancreatic Cancer Early
Pancreatic cancer could be diagnosed up to two years earlier by screening for two tumor markers found in blood, according to research published in Clinical Cancer Research. The study, conducted by researchers from UCL, UCL Hospital Foundation Trust and the University...
Allergic Drug Reactions Traced to Single Protein
Every day in hospitals around the world, patients suffer painful allergic reactions to the medicines they are given. The reactions, known as pseudo-allergies, often cause patients to endure itchiness, swelling and rashes as an unwanted part of their treatment plan. The...
Scientists Find How Many Cancers May Evade Treatment
The drugs were designed to keep cancer cells at bay by preventing their growth, survival and spread. Yet, after clinical trials, they left scientists scratching their heads and drug developers watching their investments succumb to cancer’s latest triumph. The drugs worked...
Tumor Micro-Environment: Rough for Nanoparticle Cancer Drugs
Nanoparticle drugs—tiny containers packed with medicine and with the potential to be shipped straight to tumors—were thought to be a possible silver bullet against cancer. However new cancer drugs based on nanoparticles have not improved overall survival rates for cancer patients...
Targeting Brain Cancer Cells With a Wound-Healing Drug
At the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, three scientists are planning to create a virus capable of destroying brain cancer. It sounds like the stuff of science fiction, but it isn’t hypothetical – the researchers were recently awarded a grant from...
FDA Endorses First Low Cost Biotech Drug
Federal health experts have unanimously endorsed a Novartis drug which is expected to become the first lower-cost copy of a biotech drug to reach the U.S. market. A panel of Food and Drug Administration experts ruled that the company’s version of...
Researchers Study Potential Blood Test for Prostate Cancer
Vanderbilt University researcher William Mitchell, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues in Germany and Canada have demonstrated a method for detecting “cell-free” tumor DNA in the bloodstream. Mitchell believes the technique will be transformative in providing improved cancer diagnostics that can both predict...
Ebola Medic Flown to Germany for Anonymity
A South Korean medic exposed to Ebola while working in West Africa has been flown to Germany for infectious disease treatment because the patient’s anonymity would be better protected there, authorities in Berlin said Saturday. Doctors at Berlin’s renowned Charite hospital...
With Opdivo approval, Bristol-Myers arms for PD-1 battle against Merck’s Keytruda
The Bristol-Myers Squibb-vs.-Merck match in melanoma immunotherapy is on. Bristol-Myers ($BMY) scored FDA approval for its cancer immunotherapy Opdivo (nivolumab) three months ahead of schedule, setting it up for a head-to-head contest against Merck’s ($MRK) recent debut in the same class,...
Researchers Find Alternate Drug Therapy Lowers Antibodies
Findings of a three-year clinical trial led by University of Cincinnati (UC) transplant researchers suggest that a novel pre-operative drug therapy reduces antibodies in kidney patients with greater success than with traditional methods, with the potential to increase the patients’ candidacy...